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INTERNATIONAL AND SPECIALIZED TRANSPORT
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JULY 20
13
Keeping cool
L
ate last year 24 wind turbines were
erected at a site on Oswaldtwistle
Moor in Lancashire, UK. It had
been proposed that the project should
start in 2007 at a site provisionally named
Haslingden wind farm. Before work got
underway, however, the site was moved
from Haslingden Moor to the adjacent
Oswaldtwistle Moor.
Installation of the wind turbines was by
specialist contractor Dan McNally. The new
wind turbine site was renamed Hyndburn
Wind farm. The 12 turbines are
Wind turbine erection of the Hyndburn wind farm
in the UK was a challenge met by the team at
Dan McNally Limited. DAVID WESTON reports
SITE REPORT
eight weeks. Due to poor weather it took
ten weeks to erect them all.
The wind farm’s location on the West
Lancashire moors is on high ground
between the west coast and the Pennines
and, while this is classed as a very good
location for a wind farm, it presented
McNally’s with a number of problems.
The Lancashire weather and strong winds
meant that the company had to halt work
for 10 days. Local site restrictions prevented
work on site for a further two days.
At the site McNally’s deployed a
Liebherr 1,200 tonne capacity LTM 11200
wheeled mobile telescopic crane. The crane
is named
Fionn Mac Cumhaill
, but is more
widely known as
Finn McCool
, the mythical
giant that built the Giant’s Causeway from
Ireland to Scotland. Work was completed
after 10 weeks from the start date.
Dan McNally erected its first wind
turbines in 1999. They were 600 kW Vestas
and a 400 tonne crane was sufficient for
the job. In 2005 Dan McNally established
Wind Hoist, a wind turbine installation
company that supplies cranes and trained
erection personnel.
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2.5 megawatt REpower MM 82s with a
maximum blade height of 122 metres. They
can generate an estimated 72.2 million kWh
of electricity a year, providing the electricity
for 52 % of Hyndburn households.
Oswaldtwistle Moor was the preferred
location for the erection of Hyndburn
wind farm because the soil had been
previously drained, unlike Haslingden
Moor. Oswaldtwistle is also outside the
water catchment area for Calf Hey,
Ogden and Holden wood
reservoirs, which
are used for
the public
water supply.
The first
wind turbine
components
were
delivered
on site by UK
specialist contractor
Collett transport. It had
been hoped that all the
towers would be erected
in between six and
Assembling a
rotor with an
assist crane
The 40 tonne
rotor assembly
being lifted into
place on the first
tower
A mid tower
section being
lifted into place
A Grove crane working on the
transformer and control
box that is inside the
bottom of the tower
This McNally Liebherr
LTM 11200-9.1 mobile
telescopic crane is
nicknamed
Finn
McCool
